Doing Good Deeds

'That
thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall
reward thee openly.' Matthew 6:3-4

Here Jesus is telling us, when
doing good deeds, think about how you do it.Don’t do it openly, for to do so, we have our reward;

'Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a
trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They
have their reward.' – Matthew 6:1-2

Have you ever stopped to wonder
about the big fundraising events we here about with the famous and the wealthy?

“It's no surprise that
celebrities like to have their name associated with good causes. It's good PR,
and the more good they do, the more the public loves them. Because of that, they
have often being accused of using charity work only to improve their "brand."
Marc
Pollick, president and founder of The Giving Back Fund.

Truth be
told, charities also rely on celebrities to get press and help raise awareness.
In other words, it is a virtuous (vicious?) cycle. –

"Never say never but, in my
experience, the fabled benefits of celebrity support have rarely lived up to the
hype," says Peter Stanford, a British journalist who's on the board of several
charities in the UK. “I have lost count of the number of charity chief
executives and chairs who've told me that they pinned their hopes on a bumper
payback because they had a famous face at a fund-raising event, or fronting a
campaign, and then been disappointed.”

The reality is that the people
involved are doing two things, they are giving small change from their vast
fortune, and providing PR for their business, eg Actress Jami Gertz and her husband, Anthony Ressler gave
approximately $10.5 million, a tidy sum, however that is out of Anthony Ressler
co-owning an investment firm that controls over $40 BILLION in assets.

It’s small change, but it’s good
business, it promotes their brand as ethical, and makes them appear to others as
ethical.

But does the money really help?

The Bill Gates foundation is
perhaps the most well known charity fund, it’s an ‘endowment of $44.3 billion as
of 31st December 2014.

‘The foundation has
donated billions of dollars to help sufferers of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,
protecting millions of children from death at the hands of preventable
diseases.[81] However, a 2007 investigation by The Los Angeles Times[81] claimed
there are three major unintended consequences with the foundation's allocation
of aid. First, sub-Saharan Africa already suffered from a shortage of primary
doctors before the arrival of the Gates Foundation, but "by pouring most
contributions into the fight against such high-profile killers as AIDS, Gates
grantees have increased the demand for specially trained, higher-paid
clinicians, diverting staff from basic care" in sub-Saharan Africa.
This "brain drain" adds to the existing doctor
shortage and pulls away additional trained staff from children and those
suffering from other common killers. Second, "the focus on a few diseases has
shortchanged basic needs such as nutrition and transportation".[81]
Third, "Gates-funded vaccination programs have
instructed caregivers to ignore – even discourage patients from discussing –
ailments that the vaccinations cannot prevent".[81]’

What this is telling us is that the
money that the fund puts into fighting high-profile killers such as AIDS,
but DETRACTS from helping the average person on the street.
Just about anyone with a medical qualification goes to a Bill Gates
centre, and what’s left is that just about all trained medical staff – doctors AND
nurses abandon the poor, leaving children and the general public deprived of
basic needs for living – food, nutrition, care for all sorts of other common
killers and ailments.

Everyone knows that the basic way
to help someone is to get them a roof over their heads, to make sure they are
fed, to have some basic sanitation and medical care, they need someone to care.Even people with all these things feel low because they are alone, we say
‘Hi’ and make a difference, we care by giving them a meal, a bed.The reason why there is more AIDS in Africa than developed counries is
because when people are poor they will do things they would not otherwise do to
eat, prostitution will increase for instance, people will take up partners which
may not be quite so good for them
to try to not be on the streets, fathers will die of poor nutrition and the lack
of basic (NON AIDS related) medical care, so mothers will look for other
partners, teenage children will look for partners if their parents can’t
provide, and people will DO THING to THEM.There is no basic food or healthcare available.Just feed the poor, give them a bed where it is safe, show you care and
look for nothing in return.Other
problems can then take care of themselves.

‘Both insiders and external
critics have suggested that there is too much deference to Bill Gates's personal
views within the Gates Foundation, insufficient internal debate, and pervasive
"group think."[80][82] Critics also complain that Gates Foundation grants
are often awarded based on social connections and ideological allegiances rather
than based on formal external review processes or technical competence.[82]’

Gates Foundation grants are often
said to be awarded based on social connections and ideological allegiences (ie
do you support Microsoft). The poor man always looses out to the big
players ego for attention and their social connections and ideological
allegiences and desire for acclaim and prestige, rather just –
there are some people that need help, let’s help them.

It's almost hard to imagine, but
people might even be better off without the Gates Foundation grants taking
place.

The basic meaning of the word ‘Charity’ is Love

This is what charity means in the
biblical sense, it’s from the Greek word agapē which means affection, good will,
love, benevolence.

Giving or rather, 'giving' due to
social connections, to boost your ego and public opinion of you, to be seen to
do so others can say ‘You’re a great guy’! And to foster your own political
opinions, promote your business, is not do with love, it isn’t really charity.

Governments also give –
or 'give' money – but it’s not charity either, it’s called things like,
“uni-lateral aid” which involves giving a sum of money to a foreign country in
return for favours from that country.It’s really more of a business deal.

Likewise, it’s not just million or
billion dollar people who are guilty of giving to look good or for personal gain
(although guiltier on a bigger scale), we can all be guilty of it.Let’s just remember to help, not make a song and dance about it.Our Father in Heaven will reward us, which is a far better treasure than
one up-man-ship with the Jones’s.

‘But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye
should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvellous light;’ 1 Peter 2:9